Gov. Strickland signs tax-cut delay into law

COLUMBUS (AP) — Gov. Ted Strickland has signed into law a plan that delays an income tax cut and fills Ohio’s roughly $850 million budget hole.

The bill, signed today, delays the final, 4.2 percent income tax reduction that is part of a 21 percent reduction that began in 2005. The bill also enables Ohio college and universities to test proposed changes in construction contracting procedures in a few pilot projects.

Ohio State University President Gordon Gee has said the university could save hundreds of millions of dollars if it could use the new procedures.

The bill received the support last week of Democratic lawmakers, as well as five Republicans in the Senate and two in the House.

Most Republicans dubbed the tax change a tax increase.